Helen Jenkins eyes London win to boost season

By George Scott, Sportsbeat

WORLD champion Helen Jenkins admits London 2012 is already her number one priority as she prepares for her first trial run of the capital course on Saturday.

LONDON CALLING: Helen Jenkins targets victory in London on Saturday but insists 2012 is more important (onEdition)

As part of the capital's Warm Up Weekend, London hosts the sixth leg of the new-look World Triathlon Championship Series in Hyde Park - the same venue for the London 2012 Olympic triathlon.

Jenkins was the shock winner of the one-off World Championships in Vancouver last year, but failed to reach those dizzy heights at the Beijing Olympics, where she finished 21st.

The 25-year-old has also made a sluggish start to this season, finishing 14th and 16th in her first two outings in the Series, but has made notable improvements in her last two competitions with a pair of fifth-place finishes.

And while Jenkins concedes she has been planning to peak for Saturday's race all season, she revealed she would happily swap victory at the weekend for a place on the podium in three years' time.

"It's been in the back of my mind all year. I started off the season a bit slow but I've been building into it," said Jenkins.

"My training has been going really well but you never know until the day. Some days you just don't feel great but you turn up for the race and do fantastically - it seems to be quite hit and miss but I'm hoping that I can come away with a good result on Saturday.

 "I haven't really felt any more pressure since last year. It's mainly the pressure you put on yourself. I took a bit of a long break last year - it's hard starting the year not as well as I'd hoped but I've improved throughout the year.

 "2012 is my long term plan at the moment so this year is about getting through the year without any injuries and doing some consistent racing."

Having sampled London, the World Series culminates in the Gold Coast, Australia in September, via leg seven in Yokohama Japan.

And Jenkins, currently tenth in the overall standings insists she would be more than happy to end up in the top eight Down Under.

"If I can finish in the top eight of the series I will be really pleased with that," she added. "I've rested up a bit more for this one than some of the others and hopefully that will prove pivotal.

"It'd be great to win in front of a home crowd but there are so many good girls on the start list so you can't ever discount someone.

"I'm just going to do the best I can, if that's a win or that's 30th, it's just what I can do on the day."